Intel hit with $949 million U.S. verdict in VLSI computer chip patent trial

Last March VLSI won a nearly $2.2 billion verdict from Intel in a separate Texas trial over different chip patents.

A federal jury in Texas on Tuesday said Intel Corp must pay VLSI Technology LLC $948.8 million for infringing a VLSI patent for computer chips.

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VLSI, a patent-holding company affiliated with the SoftBank Group Corp-owned private equity firm Fortress Investment Group, argued during the six-day trial that Intel's Cascade Lake and Skylake microprocessors violated its patent covering improvements to data processing.

An Intel spokesperson said the company "strongly disagrees" with the verdict and plans to appeal, and that the case is "one example of many that shows the U.S. patent system is in urgent need of reform."

VLSI's law firm declined to comment on the verdict.

Last March VLSI won a nearly $2.2 billion verdict from Intel in a separate Texas trial over different chip patents, which Intel has appealed. VLSI lost another related patent trial against Intel the following month.

VLSI bought the patent in the latest trial from Dutch chipmaker NXP Semiconductors NV.